Sunday, 23 November 2014

Randi in Crisis

Looks like there's more trouble at the mill for James Randi.
On the first of September he suddenly announced that the Los
Angeles office of his organization was closing down; all
operations have been shifted to its national headquarters at Falls
Church, Virginia. This change
was effective immediately. The James Randi Educational Foundation was
established in 1996 to administer the works of James Randi, one of the world's
oldest and most prominent Skeptics. It manages applications for the One Million
Dollar Paranormal Challenge and holds an annual conference in the USA,
as well as abroad sometimes as well, called The Amazing Meeting!. I've been to
the 2010 TAM London myself, see: http://hpanwo.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/tam-london-2010.html.
Then the announcement was made very unceremoniously that the JREF was radically
downsizing; its LA office was axed and all the staff there were being laid off.
The notice also mentioned in an equally casual tone that its president DJ
Grothe was no longer associated with the Foundation and that James Randi was
coming out of retirement to be temporary acting president, just like that. It
didn't say whether Grothe was being sacked or resigned of his own accord, although
he was always a controversial character on the Skeptic circuit and few will
mourn his dismissal, if that's what it was, see: http://web.randi.org/home/los-angeles-office-closed.
Soon afterwards, the JREF Forum was disaffiliated and it continues today under
the name of the International Skeptics Forum, see: http://www.internationalskeptics.com/forums/index.php.
The reaction on the Skeptic scene has been shock and confusion. Nothing in any
previous pronouncements by the JREF had suggested anything like that was about
to take place; in fact just two months before in July over a thousand people
from all over the world had enjoyed the highly successful TAM 2014 at the
Southpoint Casino in Las Vegas; such Skeptic luminaries as Daniel Dennett,
Eugenie Scott, Bill Nye and Banachek had taken to the stage. (None of the
videos are available yet on the JREF's YouTube channel; maybe they never will
be now. Will there ever be a TAM 2015?) What's more An Honest Liar, a feature-length biographical documentary about
James Randi by Tyler Measom and Justin Weinstein had just been released; it was
shown last week on the BBC as part of the Storyville series under the title Exposed: Magicians, Psychics and Frauds,
see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04ndsb3/storyville-20142015-8-exposed-magicians-psychics-and-frauds.
The feelings of the Skeptic masses are illustrated well in this video by the Skeptic
film-maker John Rael: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2WYkx6finA,
and this blogpost by the Skeptic journalist Shane Brady: http://shanebrady.com/2014/09/01/well-tam-we-had-a-good-run/.
As you can see in Rael's vid, the old JREF offices in Los
Angeles are already being converted into a hair salon.

Why has this happened? Nobody knows. A lot must have been
going on behind the scenes privately which then came to a public showdown very
abruptly after being well concealed. As I say in the links below, Skeptics
maintain their confident and polished public persona with the determination of
politicians. There has been no talk of this matter outside the
"independent" Skeptic media; SGU
has not referred to it once, see: http://www.theskepticsguide.org/podcast/sgu/478.
The brief post on the JREF website mentions "cost savings and greater
efficiency"; these are sinister words that my hospital used to use, and I
know very well that they're a euphemism that translates into regular speech as:
"oh shit, we're broke!". If the reason for the partial collapse of
the JREF is financial then what could have caused it? TAM 2014 tickets were
snapped up, there are new books coming out all the time that must generate some
revenue. Perhaps it is the recent legal actions by at least one person over the
Million Dollar Challenge, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2013/10/randi-sued-over-million-challenge.html,
but there's no way of knowing because, again, everybody's lips are sealed. Another
possibility could be that the covert intelligence community and military
industrial complex which are surreptitiously connected to the JREF are behind
whatever changes are going on with it, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2014/11/james-randi-and-military-industrial.html.
The Skeptic movement has expanded rapidly since its emergence over forty years
ago, but it is primarily in the last decade that it has truly become a global phenomenon
involving millions of people in every country on Earth. Yet in the very moment
of its self-styled triumph the Skeptisphere has entered a terrible crisis that
manifests in many ways. It's always been well known that Skeptics can be
extremely cruel to their enemies, but in recent years astonishingly bitter and
venomous internal conflicts have broken out as well, causing them to split into
sparring factions over issues such as how closely the Skeptic and atheist world
should be. Also the role of women in the Skeptic community, their rights and
obligations. These battles have at times become criminally violent in their
intensity, see: http://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/skeptics-troll-their-own.html.
What's more, Skeptics have totally abandoned all of the rationality that they
claim to be the ultimate arbiters of and hysterically blurted out accusations
against Sally Morgan, without any evidence against her, resulting in a
successful lawsuit and a number of red faces and empty wallets, see: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/sally-morgan-skeptic-fail.html.
They have committed outrageous and disgraceful acts of censorship against
Graham Hancock and Rupert Sheldrake, see: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/down-with-skeptocracy.html.
And to crown it all, one of their shock troops, Brian Dunning, has been jailed
for fraud. Some commentators have concluded that the entire Skeptic movement is
in terminal decline; it is certainly in a huge upheaval, transforming beyond
all recognition. At the end of his video linked above, John Rael speculates on
the future of chez Skeptic without the JREF; his optimistic vision is that
other groups will rise to fill the hole left by the JREF and will hopefully
learn from the mistakes of their predecessors. On the ISF, formerly the JREF
Forum, one of the members proposes: "the
JREF will make a deal with Michael Shermer. Shermer will organize TAM next year
'for' the JREF and take half of any money raised for the Skeptics Society.
Eventually it will be a joint event and when the inevitable happens with The
Amazing One (Randi dying) TAM will become a 100% Skeptics Society event." One
slight problem... Michael Shermer himself.

Michael Shermer became interested in the paranormal when he
had a mystical experience while taking part in a bicycle race. This led him
into the study of anomalous psychology, and in 1992 he founded the Skeptics
Society, an international organization which today has over 55,000 members
across the world. It publishes the quarterly journal Skeptic which Shermer edits and it has featured columns by Richard
Dawkins, James Randi and many other heroes of Skepticism. Shermer has organized
conferences, outings and activism. He has written seventeen books, including Why People Believe Weird Things, The Skeptic Encyclopaedia of Pseudoscience
and The Believing Brain. He's one of
the most regular lecturers at Skeptic events and is a sought after media pundit
on all Skeptic matters. He is among the last people on Earth I thought would
ever question the House of Skeptic. However, it appears he has. There are a
minority of people who get involved with the Skeptic movement for a short time who
will eventually drop out of it for various reasons; often because they decide
that the Skeptic paradigm doesn't really reflect the real world we live in and
the real people that we are. But what happens when the convert was not just any
old Skeptic, but is instead one of the world's principle Skeptic spokesmen? A
few weeks ago Michael Shermer posted an article on his website subtitled: I just witnessed an event so mysterious that
it shook my Skepticism. In the article he explains how on June the 25th
when he got married something out-of-this-world happened. Shermer says that if
he'd heard it from somebody else he'd never have believed it, and he has heard
it from other people and hasn'tbelieved
it, many many times. More than anybody else, he knows the implications of
questioning a "rational explanation" for an anomalous event. His wife
is as much a Skeptic as he is (how could she put up with him otherwise?), but
she feels the same way he does about what happened. Shermer goes on to say: "I
have to admit, it rocked me back on my heels and shook my Skepticism to its
core... The emotional interpretations of such anomalous events grant them
significance regardless of their causal account. And if we are to take
seriously the scientific credo to keep an open mind and remain agnostic when
the evidence is indecisive or the riddle unsolved, we should not shut the doors
of perception when they may be opened to us to marvel in the mysterious". This
is an extraordinary statement for a Skeptic to make. What if Shermer actually
ceases to be a Skeptic? How will his peers react to the defection of such an
admired and high-profile member of their community? Could he become the Skeptic
Charlie Veitch? It must be said that Shermer had previous cause for complaint.
He had been accused of rape by two JREF staff members and TAM conference organizers,
Alison Smith and Jeff Wagg. I say "accused", but they did not call
the police, they just posted their indictment on the JREF Forum and Twitter,
see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-eNn6S9hXA.
In the event of a Shermer betrayal it's possible the Skeptic loyalists will opt
for many different kinds of damage control methods. Maybe they'll just ignore
him. They could just stop talking about him and let him slip out of people's
thoughts; throw him down the memory hole. Or will their thug element burst out
to brutalize him like they did Rebecca Watson and Sally Morgan? Has Shermer got
the courage to go there, if he really is having second thoughts? It's too soon
to tell. Very rarely do people change their minds overnight about something very
fundamental to their worldview. Shermer is probably not going to have a road to
Damascus conversion; he has had an
amazing experience at his wedding that might begin a process in his mind. If so
then the process could be a long one, with fits and starts, doubts and wrong
turns. It may be several years before he comes out of the closet as a
"buh-leeva", but if he does it might inspire other Skeptics to
express any doubts they have hitherto kept private, see here for more details: http://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.co.uk/2014/10/michael-shermer-traitor.html.
Nevertheless the defection of one of their top superstars will be a massive
blow to the already punch-drunk Skeptic establishment. Will it pick itself up
from that one? At the end of the day, all the problems the Skeptisphere is
suffering are secondary products of what I consider to be the same underlying
cause. It's a crisis of confidence because the Skeptic movement has got it wrong, about everything. It's that
simple. It's also not wrong by accident, it is a social phenomenon partly created
by psychological warfare experts to counter public interest in the growing
paranormal presence in our universe. It will not succeed.

5 comments:

Wonderful commentary Ben.Damned good summary.Under tha video "JREFs Anally inserted grenade" all of the party faithfull applaud the speakers strafing and demolition of the entire skeptic movement from bottom to top.Imploding due to its own complete lack of integrity,that it was never more than a house of cards, Lacking integrity in every one of its leadership and management right down to the myriads of pseudoskeptic headkickers that have ruined the internet.None of that party faithful video audience disagreed with the speakers utter condemnation of the skeptic movement. Its The party faithful the speaker is talking about,and they lap it up. NO ARGUMENT WHATSOEVER They tacitly agree they are all trash people. LOL. Skeptics are never much good at realising implications.Its one of their major defects.

The natural religious tendencies of skeptics are just so blatant sometimes with your quoted comment, Ben."the JREF will make a deal with Michael Shermer. Shermer will organize TAM next year 'for' the JREF and take half of any money raised for the Skeptics Society. Eventually it will be a joint event and when the inevitable happens with The Amazing One (Randi dying) TAM will become a 100% Skeptics Society even"

The desire to belong in a group is natural religious tendency. It why atheist form churches on Google. Certainly that man, wants to belong to some group, and he is going to put money there to ensure a future, no matter what. So that the "party"can re-invent itself and restore the old golden era that never existed.A fundamentlist delusion that starts so many religious groups, like the skeptics. LOL. Furthermore, that commenter wants a purist skeptic group meaning likely NO WOMEN and NO BLACK PEOPLE and none can disagree.It would be the same old same old LOLAnd the skeptic says his Heaven will arrive when Randi dies.Heaven on Earth. Amen

Thanks, Steve. And cheers for commenting. Mykeru is definitely voicing what a lot of the Skeptic flock have been thinking for a long time. He's done other videos of PZ Myers who he believes is a complete humbug. In which case he's fooled Richard Dawkins totally. The comparison to a church is accurate. I've seen the Skeptic masses myself at TAM London and there was a religious atmosphere in the audience when James Randi came onto the stage, this short, hunched and wizened old man. His frail frame looked odd with all the lights around him and acres of people on their feet cheering

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